Report accuses Frontex of helping force migrants back
LIBYA – A report published by the English-language European newspaper EUobserver said drones operated by the European Border and Coast Guard Agency Frontex had, through aerial surveillance, contributed to the interception and forced return of at least 33,000 migrants to Libya and Tunisia from the central Mediterranean between late 2018 and 2024.
Aerial surveillance and a 36% share in 2021
The report, which Al-Marsad followed and summarised, said that in 2021 — which it described as the most complete year for data — detections by the agency’s drones were linked to at least 36% of all recorded pushback and forced-return operations.
It added that Frontex had allocated €330 million for aerial surveillance through to 2027.
Extra funding and a drone operated from a ship
It said the European Commission is seeking a further €169 million to buy drones, maritime equipment and advanced systems capable of operating at very high altitudes.
It noted that the agency’s largest drones were operated in July from a ship in the Mediterranean, in a practical trial with Italy that expanded the range of surveillance and detection.
Legal responsibility and humanitarian rescue ships
The report argued that this system, built up over years, allows the European Union to shift responsibility for intercepting migrants onto the Libyan and Tunisian authorities amid legal ambiguity, and that this may increase pressure on humanitarian rescue ships and deter them from saving lives.
It pointed to European support for funding and establishing a Libyan search-and-rescue zone in which what it described as aggressive Libyan coastguard vessels regularly appear, some of them inside a monitoring area usually covered by Malta.
It added that 16 incidents were recorded in which Frontex drones did not alert nearby humanitarian rescue ships capable of helping that migrant boats were present, according to the report.
